“There’s No Such Thing As Too Many Books”

I have been a reader for as long as I can remember, ever since the days when I had to turn to one of my family members to read to me before I learned to myself. My favorite books were from Dr. Seuss, and according to my parents, I made them read The Lorax to me so many times that I could recite it from memory. That being said, I have read a lot of books in my lifetime and accumulated quite a collection because I prefer having a book in front of me over e-reading. So I figured a great way to start this new semester of blogging would be to talk about some of my absolute favorite books since they take up a large portion of my heart (and also my closet–there’s the evidence on the right). 

I tend to be a pretty big fan of a variety of books, more so on the fiction side of things. A lot of my favorite books are fantasy or realistic fiction with a bit of mystery to mix it up every once in a while, as a heads up to what most of these books will be. (Also an apology for the length, I have a hard time being concise when talking about my favorite books). 

1. A favorite series of mine that I have read pretty recently is called The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and it is a trilogy with an extra book added to the end that is not part of the original series. It follows a young girl named Avery who’s struggling financially when she gets an invitation to the reading of a Texas billionaire’s will. While there, she learns that the billionaire, Tobias Hawthorne, left her a large majority of his fortune, much to her surprise and the surprise of his surviving family. Following this, Avery and Mr. Hawthorne’s four grandsons embark on a journey to figure out why the old man chose her, and each book just leads to more and more plot twists following the history of the Hawthorne family and what role Avery is going to play moving forward. I would rate this entire series a 10/10, I absolutely flew through all of these books and loved all of the plot twists (and props to the cover designer for sticking with the same theme all the way through).
2. Another series I love is a duology that starts with Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, who has also written a couple more series I enjoy that are set in the same world. Those are called King of Scars and Shadow and Bone (which was also made into a fantastic TV show). Bardugo does a great job of world-building in all of her books, and the world that she creates is well thought out and very interesting. Six of Crows is about a team of thieves who are commissioned by a very wealthy merchant to steal an artifact from a highly protected court in one of the countries in the story. Not only does the book have a lot of intense moments that make it very difficult to put down, but all of the characters have complicated backgrounds that you get to learn about through flashbacks throughout the book. Also, about the TV series that they made out of Shadow and Bone, it’s really interesting because they stick to a similar plot as the Shadow and Bone series, but there are some nuances in there, plus the characters from Six of Crows also make an appearance so I would highly recommend that as well. Overall, another 10/10 for wonderful storytelling and a very high-intensity plot. 
3. On a little bit of a different note, I read a book a little while that was a bit out of my comfort zone so I wasn’t sure I would like it but I ended up absolutely loving it. It’s called The Silent Patient by Alex Machaelides and was just plot twist on top of plot twist. It starts with a woman named Alicia Berenson, who seems to have the perfect life and then just shoots her husband in the face one night when he gets home from work and proceeds to never speak again. She is then moved to a psychiatric unit called the Grove. Then along comes a criminal psychotherapist named Theo Faber who is captivated by her story and finds a way to work with her. He has a strong determination to keep pushing her, even after she attacks him the first time he speaks with her, and the story flips between some of Alicia’s memories from her so-called perfect life and Theo’s perspective working with Alicia and digging into some of the police work done on her case. The end of this book was actually one of the craziest plot twists I’ve personally ever read, and the fast pace made it a very exhilarating read. Yet another 10/10 (I know I keep giving them all full points but to be fair these are supposed to be my favorite books so).
4. For the final book, I figured I would go with something a little more lighthearted after all of the intense ones on my list so far. The Summer of Broken Rules by KL Walther is a cute little summertime romance that I really enjoyed. It had a lot of strong familial bond aspects in there too. The main character Meredith Fox is going to Martha’s Vineyard for a large extended family wedding following the death of her older sister Claire eighteen months prior. She has recently broken up with her boyfriend but is happy that she will be able to see some family and participate in one of their traditions, which closely resembles North’s game of Senior Assassins. However, of course, she meets one of the groomsmen and they start to hang out, but she’s still struggling with her grief and he kind of helps her deal with that. Overall I really enjoyed this book, the couple is very cute and I like that Walther addresses how the grief that Meredith feels tends to come in waves. Another 10/10 to round out the list.